The issue, involving "Scuppy," a horse at a Milford garden shop and nursery that bit a child in 2006, went to the state Supreme Court last September. Malloy, speaking to the Working Lands Alliance in the Capitol, said he wants to help the state's $3.8-billion agricultural economy.

"We are a horse-conscious state," Malloy said. "We don't think that every horse should be considered inherently dangerous. That's not to say that there aren't vicious horses. That's a different matter entirely."

Horse owners are concerned that if the pending case goes against Timothy Astriab's Glendale Farms, higher insurance rates could result for horse owners throughout Connecticut.

There are more than 50,000 horses in the state.

During a half-hour meeting in the Capitol with the Alliance, Malloy said he wants to be supportive of the agricultural industry.

In the May 2006 incident, a young son of Anthony Vendrella Sr. was bitten on the cheek by Scuppy, who was standing behind a 5-foot fence.

The boy was in the arms of his father, who briefly looked away at the moment of the bite. Vendrella's case, claiming that Glendale Farms should have had better signage and fencing, was upheld by the Appellate Court.

Vendrella's attorney asked the high court to send the case back to the Superior Court level, where a liability case could proceed on its merits.